September 14, 2004

ORANGE + GREEN = RED:

Nader back on state ballot: Ralph Nader is back on Florida's presidential ballot, but Democrats continued to challenge the candidacy of the man they blame for putting George W. Bush in the White House in 2000. (LESLEY CLARK, 9/14/04, Miami Herald)

Ralph Nader is back. At least for now.

In a dizzying turn of events, Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood returned the consumer crusader to the state's presidential ballot on Monday as lawyers for the Democratic Party, the state and Nader sought emergency court hearings to settle a dispute over whether the independent candidate can appear there.

A state judge booted Nader off the ballot last week, but Hood, in effect, reversed the ruling -- telling election supervisors now preparing absentee ballots to be mailed overseas that Nader is a candidate.

The move infuriated Democrats, who accused Hood, an appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush, of partisan politicking.

Yep, it's true that getting Ralphie on the Florida ballot is now a dirty trick.

The good news for Nader is that the Florida Divisions of Elections is putting him on the ballot despite a court order not to do so. In the old days, when Mayor Daley stole elections for the Democrats, at least he did it by getting dead people to vote in the dark of night. The Republicans are a lot more brazen. I suspect we haven't heard the last of this story.

Ah, for the good ol' days when progressives and populists believed in democracy and the people and it was good to have left-wing candidates on the ballot and it was only reactionaries who resorted to lawsuits based on arcane ballot laws to keep off those they didn't like.